A Ugandan military helicopter carrying eight personnel crashed and caught fire at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport on Monday, according to a statement from the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
Maj. Gen. Felix Kulaigye, spokesperson for the UPDF, confirmed that three individuals survived the crash and were evacuated with injuries. However, five others remain unaccounted for. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
“We heard a loud explosion and saw smoke rising above the helicopter,” said Farah Abdulle, an airport worker who witnessed the incident, speaking to Reuters.
Emergency responders quickly extinguished the resulting fire, according to Somalia’s state-run news agency.
The helicopter had reportedly departed from Balidogle Airfield, located in the Lower Shabelle region approximately 90 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu. It was attempting to land in a section of the airport designated for military operations at the time of the crash.
The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), under which the Ugandan troops are deployed, confirmed that the three survivors were transported to a hospital for treatment. Search and recovery operations are ongoing to locate the remains of the missing personnel.
Both ATMIS and Somali authorities have launched investigations to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Uganda contributes approximately 11,000 troops to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. The mission supports the Somali federal government in its ongoing efforts to combat the al-Shabab militant group, an al-Qaeda affiliate that has destabilized the country for more than two decades.
While the crash caused delays for at least one Turkish civilian aircraft scheduled to depart the airport, domestic flight operations reportedly continued without major disruption.